01/08/2005
Elections observer will oversee changes
By Bill Lambrecht
Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau
Paul DeGregorioAll of that added up to nearly 24 straight hours of election monitoring for DeGregorio, who was elevated last week to vice-chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
His job as the No. 2 person at the nation's new election watchdog agency will put DeGregorio at the center of election reform during a time of epochal transition in how many Americans vote. In Missouri alone, 65 percent of voters will see new voting equipment in 2006; in Illinois, about 60 percent.
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One year ago, President George W. Bush appointed DeGregorio, a Republican, to a two-year term on the commission, which pays a salary of $140,000. He commutes weekly to Washington to work, typically catching a 6:50 a.m. flight on Monday and returning home Friday evening.
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Few voters have heard of the commission, but 7,000 election officials around the county know all about it. Thus far, it has distributed $2.4 billion in federal funds for election reform, including $61 million to Missouri and $45 million to Illinois. (Illinois is in line to receive another $98 million.)
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DeGregorio agrees with that outcome, saying he has seen "no discrepancies or problems that call into question the fact that President Bush carried Ohio."
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